The Great British Food Festival 2015
Published On Tuesday 5 May 2015 by Sticky Beak
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The Boy Wonder and I always enjoy visiting food fairs and markets as it gives us a chance to stock up on lots of different goodies to take back to the nest and share with the Tribal Elders. At the Great British Food Festival there was a variety of producers from further afield than our fantastic local guys so it gave us an opportunity to try some different goodies. There were a couple of our favourite local teams there (Granny Marys Potted Meats and The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop), and we couldn’t resist getting some of their tasty morsels.
I could give up an awful lot of foods if I really had to, but Cheese isn’t one of them, so I was very excited to see lots of cheese stalls around the grounds. Lymm Bank Farm had got a great selection of cheeses to choose from and they had a brilliant offer on for a Tenner: 3 cheeses, a jar of chutney and a pack of biscuits for cheese. Well, for that price it would’ve been rude to pass them by so we got a wedge of Skegness Blue, a cheese with Horseradish in and one with Garlic in accompanied by a jar of Caramelised Onion and Cranberry chutney and a pack of Stag Stornaway Cocktail Oatcakes.
My Daddy Bird and I love Blue Cheeses, and as you know we are quite partial to The Hartington Creamery’s Stilton, and the Skegness Blue was very tasty - slightly tangier on the palate than the Hartington Stilton, which does have an exceptionally smooth finish to it. Further along the tent The Man spotted something that intrigued him as a newcomer to cheesy delights, namely cheese with Ginger in it on the Bexton Cheese stand, so we bought a slab of that to take back too. The aforementioned Hartington Stilton also found its way into our shopping bag (along with some fresh Derbyshire Oatcakes) at the R.P Davidson Cheese Factor stall.
A perfect accompaniment to our cheese feast was the discovery of some great artisan breads at the French Corner teams stall, so we grabbed a loaf each of their yummy Olive, Onion, and Cheese offerings - all of which were supremely tasty.
As you will have read in my chatterbox about the Food Fair, lunch consisted of a tantalisingly piquant Pork Pie with Chorizo from Nova Scotia Farm but our thoughts were soon turning to our evening meal and supper. We didn’t have far to go before the solution presented itself to us on the Shirley’s Pies stall in the form of a glorious Mixed Game in Lancaster Brewery Red Ale pie. When we heated it up back home it filled the kitchen with the most beak-chatteringly delicious aroma, and it tasted every bit as amazing as it had promised to be. The pastry wasn’t tough at all and it was crammed to the rafters with filling - a proper tummy buster for dinner chez nest.
To continue the Pie theme we also bought 3 pies from the team at Brockleby’s Pies; Moroccan Lamb, Longhorn Steak and Wild Deer. My personal favourite was the Lamb pie, the Elders tucked in with gusto to the Steak pie and said it was delightful, and His nibs ploughed through the Deer pie, as he is rather partial to Venison. Again, all the pies were filled to the rafters with meat and the pastry was good quality. You can freeze these at home if you wish, but as we pointed out to the stall holder food doesn’t last long enough in our nest to make it to the freezer!
Enough of the savoury I hear you cry dear reader, what about those of us with a sweet beak? Fear not sugar slaves, there was a myriad of gorgeous choices for you to indulge in. We treat ourselves to a selection of Fudge from Laura’s Fudge including Death by Chocolate, Baileys, Peanut Butter and Salted Caramel - and the murmurs of delight from all of us were testament to its yumminess. The Boy has an incredibly sweet beak and his little eyes popped out on stalks when he saw all the flavours of Turkish delight at the Deli Vignette stall. Luckily for him he has a wife that loves to indulge him in his favourite sweet when we see it, so four different types of delight found their way into his clutches.
All the purchases we made at the fair provided our little flock with a sumptuous fuddle for Bank Holiday Sunday afternoon. Food at our nest is always a pleasure to be savoured amid much conversation and laughter, rather than hurried and not appreciated, and on this occasion we all had a lovely relaxed afternoon together.
Thank you Great British Food Festival, we had a lot of fun with the goodies we bought, you know how to throw a fantastic event :)
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